Death Rite Genie: An Urban Fantasy Folly

by AE McKenna

  Penny lifted her cupped hands to me and magic glowed from the objects. “Here. Use these.”

  “What are those?” I knew what they were. The smell was sweet and fresh. I banged the stalagmites again.

  “Lucky charms.” Penny tried to smile, but her lips trembled too much. “Go on. Take them.”

  I hesitated. They probably stole those. From where, I did not know. Some smelled like fresh clover, potent like the magic from Luce’s four-leaf clover. Frankie’s charms. Penny was offering the last of her husband. Once those were used, there wouldn’t be any of his magic left anymore.

  “What were you thinking to wake an ancient and raise Frankie from the dead?”

  She swallowed. “It’s been longer than a year and a day since he died. An ancient is the only being that has magic to bring Frankie back.”

  “Into the ancient’s body? Are you nuts?”

  “Maybe.” She shook her head. “My original plan was to sacrifice Sythradiafol and use Ray’s body, but you two—” Her fingers clenched around the charms and she licked her chapped lips. “So then I needed to switch gears and sacrifice Sythradiafol instead. Frankie in an ancient’s body was a better option than her wish for iron immunity.”

  I focused on Lucy, reeling from Penny’s admission. Luce struggled against Hun-Hunahpu’s grip as he continued creating a tree with lava.

  “It wasn’t worth it,” I whispered. “Lucy is worth more than any of that, and you threw it away.”

  “I-I know.” She stared at her daughter. “Please, Malware. Please. I… I was so wrong.” Her face mottled and unshed tears turned her eyes glossy.

  “What about later? Are you going to keep doing this to her?” I demanded.

  “Do you think this is the right time to talk about this?”

  “We’re not going anywhere.”

  She clenched her eyes shut. “You are frustrating.”

  “So are you.” I glanced at Lucy. The tree was nearly finished growing from the lake, its boughs reaching for the cavern ceiling. Hun-Hunahpu continued to ignore Lucy’s attempts to break free. “What do you want for those charms?”

  Penny shook her head. “I’ll only surrender to you.”

  “What?” I narrowed my eyes, searching for a trap in her words, her expression, her body posture, but I only saw desperation. It didn’t make me feel any better.

  “I trust you to make sure I’m safe—to protect Lucy.” She swallowed. “But it has to be you who brings me in.”

  My insides knotted as I squinted at her. “Are you trying to sabotage us?”

  She jerked back, then laughed bitterly. “She asked me the same question a while ago. So, you two are dating? She said you were only friends.”

  “It’s a recent development.” I pursed my lips, hating what she was demanding of me, but she had a valid point. She’d betrayed the bureau. I could make sure she was brought in safely, and Frankie’s charms would ensure it. But what about Luce? Would she understand, would she hold it against me? From the way she’d reacted earlier, I didn’t think the odds were in my favor.

  Lucy squawked. I didn’t have time to wonder what was best for both of us. All that mattered was that we made it out alive.

  “Fine. I’ll bring you in.” I snatched the charms from Penny and shoved them in my pockets.

  The magic held me in an embrace not unlike a summer’s day. I swung the crowbar. This time when I made contact, something budged.

  “Hang on, Luce!” I swung again. “I’m coming!”

  Penny moved a few steps away and summoned a shovel and began smacking the stalagmites and stalactites with me. I didn’t want to know why she felt the need to keep one in her bottle.

  The tree finished growing from the lava. Its roots lifted and wove a gnarly path stretching over the bubbling magma to the stone floor. Hun-Hunahpu tugged Lucy along the pathway, gripped her hips, and pressed her into the trunk of the tree.

  Lucy screamed and kicked her feet. Resting his palm between her breasts, he pinned her in place as the bark grew around her body.

  Hun-Hunahpu stroked her unblemished cheek. “Worry not, child of Fall. Lava will soon cleanse humans from the earth and we shall begin anew. Your harvesting will reap rewards across civilizations, and our children will inherit the realms.”

  Chapter 24

  Trapped. He trapped me inside a tree. A tree. Who gets trapped in a tree growing out of a lava lake? I wanted to scream, but couldn’t draw enough breath into my lungs, and only managed half a wheeze. Every tiny bit of air I sucked in was brimstone, and the surrounding earth shuddered. My heart beat a rapid staccato against my ribs and the blood roared in my ears. The earth moving while inside a volcano couldn’t be good, but it was incredibly hot. I couldn’t hold in my head why it was bad. I had other things to worry about—being trapped in a tree by some dude who wanted to put a bun in my oven. Hun-Hunahpu removed his hand from my chest and I finally drew in a whistle of air that tasted like rotten eggs.

  “Be still.” He propped his hands on his hips above my towel. “The reaping will not hurt.”

  I licked my lips. “No.”

  “No?” Hun-Hunahpu tilted his head, his shiny black eyes reassessing me.

  A puff of blue smoke heralded the thunk of Diane reappearing at the base of the tree. He looked at it, his brows lifting. The earth trembled. I licked my lips again. My mouth is like a desert. Over the roaring heat and bubbling lava, metal clanged against metal. I peered over the ancient fae’s shoulder at the gold cage trapping Mal and Mom.

  Are they causing all the noise, and what the hell is it with fae trapping djinni with gold?

  Time was slipping from me, and the second chance I’d gained when Mal wished for my freewill had been spent foolishly. I’d blown it with things I wanted to do, not what my family or friends wanted. Hadn’t that been why Mal was angry with me earlier this week? Wasn’t Mags hinting at something more than pastries? Mom had certainly wanted to do something else than traipse around the world eating food. And now, here we all were, imprisoned in different cages inside a volcano. They’d never get to me in time. I was trapped inside a tree, unable to move my arms or legs, and I had a fae who wanted to do the nasty. At least the bark trapped my legs, too. Don’t be stupid. He put me in here, he can very well choose which parts of me aren’t trapped.

  I dry-swallowed. “Yeah, I’m not interested.”

  His black brows crinkled together. “It matters not. Your body is ripe.”

  I jerked, but the trunk clenched me in place. I curled my lip, wrinkled my nose. “Ew.”

  “Woman,” Hun-Hunahpu’s voice darkened, “I command you to speak plainly.”

  Crack!

  Dust sifted from the ceiling, and small stones plopped into the magma.

  Sulfur coated my swollen tongue. A wave of heat hotter than the lava surrounding me washed over my face and chest. My left eyelid fluttered. I needed to keep alert. “I’m not consenting for your sex ritual.”

  “Sex?” He laughed. “I will not lay with you to sow my seed.”

  “Ew, and also, I’m pretty sure that’s how you impregnate women.” I rolled my eyes. Although, if he offered me water, I’d pretend to consider it. “I mean, I’m just a woman, so what do I know?”

  “Exactly.”

  I glared.

  “Do you know how I beget my own sons?” Hun-Hunahpu caressed my neck, then his hand moved over my bark-encased shoulder and down my arm. Where he touched, the tree released me. He held my hand palm-up in his. “I was decapitated, and my head grew on this very tree. A young maiden visited me and I spat in her hand. I did not lay between her legs, yet her belly still grew heavy and birthed twins.”

  Everything inside me shriveled, starting from the apex of my thighs to my stomach. I curled my fingers inward and tried to tug my hand free. Sweat rolled down my sides. “No way. I’m still not consenting.”

  “What makes you believe I need your consent, djinni? I am fae.”

  “Because it’s my body.” I alr
eady knew that meant squat to him. He was an ancient fae. He clearly felt entitled. Then again, he was the Maize God around these parts. I kept my fingers clenched in a fist while I struggled to reason with him, but it was difficult to focus. If I had some water, I’d be able to think more clearly. “Why can’t you let humans go on about their way? They aren’t doing anything to you.”

  “They have forgotten why they are here. The old ways.” Anger settled across his handsome features. “They have forgotten us.”

  “You can’t blame them for that. The fae don’t want to reveal magic to humans.”

  His eyes narrowed. “My people have forgotten their start to life. They do not worship those who have given them this earth, but false gods. False beliefs. False living—”

  “Jesus.” I rubbed my dry tongue against the roof of my mouth, searching for moisture so I could lick my chapped lips. “That’s what you’re upset about?”

  “I should not be forgotten. I created them.”

  “And what about that lady you spat on—probably against her will? Huh? She’s just as forgotten as you are.”

  “She was a tool.”

  “So not a creator, even though her body bore the burden.” My head slumped against the tree trunk. I was exhausted. “Men really suck.”

  “I am fae. Not a trivial man.”

  “Fae suck, too. No wonder my parents wanted to keep me away from you guys. You’re all nuts! Locking people in gold cages, bottling them so you can have wishes, imprisoning them in a tree. Completely insane.”

  Fissures appeared in the cavern walls and a wave of heat and brimstone assaulted me. The clanging from Mal's and Mom’s direction grew distant. I wasn’t sure if it was because they were growing tired, or if I was passing out. But I couldn’t lose consciousness. I needed to stay alert. Apparently, the world was counting on me… and I was antagonizing the guy who was threatening to blow it all up. I wouldn’t let him spit on me, though. That was non-negotiable.

  Hun-Hunahpu looked at Mal and Mom, then back to me. “Those people are loyal to you. They would disrupt my plans, but I did not feel the need for them to perish now. I am sparing them for you. What else would you have me do?”

  I needed water, something to help me get through this. But Diane was being very bottle-y right now, and there was no weightiness of power in my core, and my magic wasn’t building ice in my chest like it did when stressed. And I was beyond stressed right now. I cracked open my good eye. “Thanks for sparing them.”

  He sneered. “Your manners are appalling.”

  “My grandma would agree with you.”

  His jaw flexed and lava spurted behind him like a sun flare. “Stop these retorts!” He snatched my hand, his longer fingers biting into my skin. “Anyone in your position would be glad to be a cornerstone for a new era. They will record your death rite in the annals of history. Why must you insist fighting this?”

  “Because I don’t want to die!” I sucked in a breath of hot, dry air. “I don’t want you to knock me up, and I don’t want to be stuck in this damned tree!”

  He dragged his thumb through my wound. Agony exploded in my cheek. “You are young. I feel the inexperience of your virginal blood. I promise the place you will go once I harvest you is not the end, and you need not worry for humans again. Is that not something to yearn for?”

  Maybe he was right. Maybe I didn’t need to carry all this weight on my shoulders. Humans were as bad as fae. Look around, everything sucked. People committed violent acts against one another every day for no other reason than simply because they wanted to. Let’s not forget my human ex who tricked me into wearing gold and sold me to pay his gambling debts. No matter how often kindness was taught or preached, humans were just as wicked as the fae. Hun-Hunahpu could stop that. He could bring peace among humankind and the Good Folk alike. He only needed to spit on me, and this volcano would erupt, beginning the chain events of magic. Lava would scrub the earth free of humans, and I would rebirth the start of a new, better era.

  All I had to do was open my hand…

  My eyes closed.

  “Wake up, honeybee!” Mom’s voice was sharp—faraway, but sharp.

  “Hang in there, tiger!” Mal’s voice was urgent, almost pleading with me. “You owe me pies.”

  I groaned, shaking my head and jabbing his thumb in my wound. Pain throbbed in my face, banishing the drowsiness that had claimed me. Awareness jolted through me, and I tugged my hand from him.

  I squinted at him. “You were gonna spit on me when I was passed out, weren’t you?”

  His face reddened, a vein throbbing in his forehead. “I prefer a willing creature, but it is superfluous. This will happen.”

  “What the fuck!” I exploded. All the anger, humility, worry, and sadness pushed from my chest in that one phrase. Pressure clamped around my brain, like when I had broken the faery trap. A faint bouquet of wildflowers danced beneath sulfur and brimstone. “What the hell do you want?”

  Hun-Hunahpu’s eyes widened and his lips flattened. “I want the histories of our people, the culture I cultivated, remembered.” His voice robotic. “It was wiped from this earth.”

  My brows scrunched together. “The…” I struggled to remember where we were. “Mayans?”

  He nodded. “They have forgotten. And… it was beautiful.”

  I gaped at him, my poor bruised brain scrambling for all the information I’d studied on the Mayans during my parents’ last travel assignment. “It wasn’t their fault.”

  “Do not say it was time that erased a peoples’ way of life from this earth.”

  “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!”

  “Explain.” His voice hard and flat.

  “The Spanish launched a campaign to bring Christianity to heathens. The Mayans couldn’t stop it. No one could stop it for like… three or four hundred years.” I slurped in a breath. Thinking quickly hurt, and the shuddering volcano distracted me. “They stole the history from Mayans because it frightened them. Your people didn’t willfully give it up. They were slaughtered, and the inquisition burned everything about them. And yes. Time’s a factor, too.”

  Sweat beaded my upper lip and I licked it, grateful for the small amount of moisture, and it nearly made me cry. “Time helps to heal and remember. There are villages here in Guatemala that practice your… teachings. They still remember and pass it on to their children.” Energy drained out of me and I struggled to keep my eye open. I was being held up by the tree, but I sagged with exhaustion. “Humans love to remember where they came from. Your culture isn’t dead, so you don’t need to rebuild it.”

  He licked my blood from his thumb and his nostrils flared. “Melltith deliwr.” He stepped back. “I thought you were only a luck djinni.”

  “Well, about that…” I chuckled. “Ever hear of bad luck?”

  The rumbling stopped; the lake of fire became still. He peered at me, his dark eyes becoming infinity-black. His gaze sank beneath my skin, scoured my bones clean, and examined my soul. I squirmed in the tree. I wasn’t sure if he liked what he saw. “You say they still wish to remember?”

  “Well, what they can. There’re only a few codices they can rely on.” I really hoped my memory wasn’t playing tricks on me. I hadn’t researched the Mayans much before Dad died, then there wasn’t a reason to study anymore.

  “My codices survived?” Hunger lit his glittering eyes and threaded through his words. His voice held a strange quality for fae. Maybe it was excitement? Hope? “Do you know where they are?”

  I licked my lips. This was a gamble, but I rolled the dice anyway. “I can find them for you.”

  “Very well.” Hun-Hunahpu covered my right eye with his hand.

  Pain lanced through my forehead and cheekbones, right into my eye socket. I screamed. I wagged my head, but the ancient fae kept firm. Make it stop. Make it stop. Agony brightened, and for a moment, I couldn’t see at all while it felt as if hooks latched onto my brain and tried to tug it through my nose. He steppe
d back, leaving behind the smell of a freshly tilled cornfield.

  Hun-Hunahpu stepped along the root bridge and onto the cavern floor. “I will reassess restarting humanity once you have delivered all the codices of my people.”

  “Hold on.” My heart thundered in my chest, exacerbating the pain in my head. What have I gotten myself into? I was certain there were only three or four in the world, and they were already accounted for. I still couldn’t see, so what had he done to my eye? Why had he decided to do it?

  “While you find my lost codices, I will survey the Iron Realm.” His head lifted and his nostrils flared. “The fog rolls in with curious guests.”

  “Wait!” I could hardly keep my eye focused. “You have to let me go. And my friends.”

  “Your friends?” He contemplated them.

  “They help me find things.”

  Hun-Hunahpu waved his hand and the gold stalagmites and stalactites receded into the earth. Mom sagged to the ground and Mal stumbled forward. He dropped the crowbar and sprinted to me as the tree surrendered me. It was like being released from an oven and the cooler air of the volcano bowled me over. My legs buckled, but he caught me.

  “Luce.” Mal held me tightly, but it wasn’t crushing. He buried his head in my neck. “Luce. I thought…”

  I wrapped my arms around him and breathed in his sunbaked sand and sea breeze scent. I wasn’t sure what was happening, honestly, but I knew I was safe. I sobbed but there weren’t any tears. A water bottle popped into my hand in a cloud of blue smoke. Thanks, Diane.

  There was a ruckus in the cavern room. I pried open my eye to see a bunch of djinnis in suits, some with badges, arrive. They reminded me of accountants. A few djinnis, ranging from brawny to wiry, followed, all wearing tactical gear. One man with tanned skin and white hair glared at Mal.

  The air shimmered, a scent of hawthorn and roses crowded over the brimstone smell, and a mirror appeared, showing a dark wood study. A portal. Three fae men stepped through it. They were a variety of handsome men with a range of colored hair that competed with my collection of chucks in every color of the rainbow. The fae took one look at Hun-Hunahpu, still wearing my pizza bath towel, and gasped, bending at their waists. The djinni groveled. I hated seeing that.